Help me decide on phono preamp

Another vote for the $129 Schiit Mani.

Used one as a backup while my $2500 unit was being serviced. 

Smart buying used. Find something less than half retail.
Only concern buying used is no warranty. 

Your max stretched a little, something like a tubed Manley Chinook can be found. Subjectively, tubes offer a more convincing presentation.

As mentioned earlier, the Mani is competent against other higher  priced SS units. 

With the Mani AND savings, you can try a different cart such as an entry level MC cart. 

I have read a little about the Chinook and a couple of other tube preamps (Allnic) but not clear how much influence tube preamp will have when ahead of a SS integrated. 

Another candidate I have considered but is fairly new to the market is the Parasound JC3 Jr - the little brother to the well regarded JC3+. Not sure what is given up with the JR but new price is $1,500.

any thoughts on the tube question or the Parasound options? 

The Manley Chinook is what I use in my main system.  I haven't done an A/B comparison of the Chinook and the Nova Phonomena, so can't speak to a direct comparison between the two, but the best way I can describe the Chinook is that it is more "musical", there's more information and it draws you into the music in a way that the Phonomena doesn't.  The Phonomena is very neutral and quiet, but there's just "more" with the Chinook. 

I'm using the Chinook in an all tube system with a Music Hall MMF-7.1 turntable with a Van Den Hul MC Two cartridge. 

I've used Jolida JD-9 tubed phono stages in systems with solid state amps and they are complementary. 

Many people say that using a combination of SS amps and tubed preamps offer some of the best of both, the control and accuracy of solid state with some of the added "color" you get from tubes. 

I have a few Marantz components and they are all very "polite", detailed, but a little laid back.  I don't know what your piece sounds like, but if it is typical of the Marantz "house" sound, the Chinook might be a little more dynamic and colorful than the phono pre in the Marantz.  I have a hard time imagining that the included phono stage in the Marantz would be better than the Chinook.

The Jolida JD9 is a nice phono stage but when I replaced it with the Chinook it was a pretty dramatic improvement.

Read some more on the Chinook. Many threads on tube rolling. Leads me to a couple of questions:

What is the typical lifespan of tubes? How do you know when they are going bad?

A number of tube threads on phono preamps relate to “noisy” tubes.  Is this an issue with noise emanating from the tube itself or noise in the signal and heard through the speakers?

Is there an issue with the stock Chinook tubes?  There are a lot of threads about swapping tubes to improve sound/ performance. Is this something I should plan on having to do eventually, ie stick tubes are Chevys not Porsches? 

My only tube experience is with my guitar amps where the mfg uses very basic tubes but there is meaningful  sonic changes with aftermarket tubes. However these are usually fairly inexpensive ( $60 total cost) compared to some tubes recommended for Chinook ($500-$800). I would expect the choice by Manley (6922’s) would have optimized their design performance goals.

Thoughts? 

Preamp tubes last for years. I prefer tubes to solid state in the phono preamp and never had any noise problems. As a matter of fact my tube phono preamp is dead quiet!